Son Kyung-sik, Chairman of the Korea Employers Federation, "Labor and Management Must Cooperate to Overcome COVID-19"

Son Kyung-sik, Chairman of the Korea Employers Federation, Speech as Representative of Korean Business at the 109th ILO General Assembly

Kyunghwan Sohn, Chairman of the Korea Employers Federation, is delivering the keynote speech at the 108th ILO General Assembly held in Geneva, Switzerland in 2019. (File photo)

[Asia Economy Reporter Changhwan Lee] Sohn Kyung-shik, Chairman of the Korea Employers Federation, emphasized that labor and management must cooperate to overcome the global damage caused by COVID-19.

On the 8th, Chairman Sohn made this statement to labor, management, and government representatives worldwide at the 109th International Labour Organization (ILO) General Assembly under the theme "The Role of Labor, Management, and Government in Overcoming the COVID-19 Crisis."

He explained, “Since last year, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has brought the world into the most severe crisis since the Great Depression. In Korea as well, one out of four young people, who are the future generation, is effectively unemployed, and even the newly created jobs are mostly temporary, daily, or part-time positions with less than 15 hours per week, raising concerns about both the quantity and quality of employment.”

He continued, “The ILO Secretary-General’s report that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused the disappearance of as many as 255 million jobs worldwide reminds us once again of the seriousness of the current crisis,” and shared his views on overcoming the COVID-19 crisis.

First, he emphasized, “To overcome the current crisis, significant investment must be made,” and “for this, labor and management must show cooperation.”

He added, “Bold reforms in work methods are necessary to maintain jobs,” noting that “during the COVID-19 response process, the world of work has rapidly transformed, diversifying employment types and changing traditional work methods.”

Furthermore, he stressed, “An environment must be created where companies can regain vitality and freely create jobs,” and “support must be provided for the recovery of pandemic-affected companies, and incentives should be given to new industries so that investment leads to employment.”

Chairman Sohn also argued that to successfully implement the three core ILO conventions ratified and deposited by the Korean government last April, the outdated labor laws must be improved during the remaining one year before their enforcement.

He stated, “The Korean business community also agrees on the necessity of ratifying the conventions,” but warned, “If the core conventions are enforced without sufficient social consensus or balanced institutional improvements, confusion and conflict in industrial sites and labor-management relations are expected.”

To this end, he called for measures such as “allowing replacement labor during strikes and deleting criminal penalties for unfair labor practices,” and requested, “I hope the ILO respects Korea’s unique circumstances and considers the positions of stakeholders in a balanced manner.”

Meanwhile, this ILO General Assembly was held via video conference for the first time in two years due to the COVID-19 situation. It proceeded with the main agenda of ‘Responding to the COVID-19 Crisis,’ with over 4,000 labor, management, and government representatives from 187 member countries participating.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.